


Our Own Happiness

by Mayonne



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Frisk is not mute, Heartbreak, Human Souls, Human/Monster Romance, Love, Multi, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Pregnancy, Racism, Romance, Shy Sans, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, chapter lengths will vary, frisk is a boy, maternity, monster hate, monster souls, sans is doing okay, sans is inexperienced in romance, soul colors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2017-04-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 14:51:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8894884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayonne/pseuds/Mayonne
Summary: ~ON HIATUS~Nina stared with wide eyes, disbelieving. She was pregnant. But the happiness is short lived when her boyfriend refuses to accept that she's pregnant. It becomes an argument, it turns into heartbreak, and in the end Nina is left alone. Yet, just as her happiness was short lived so is her sadness. Meeting monsters, one after the other, eventually gives her the chance to find her happiness again...alongside a certain skeleton.





	1. Sweet Heart(Break)

**Author's Note:**

> I've been meaning to write a Sans focused story for some time, but I could never figure out what would be the driving force in the story to keep it going. Thankfully, one of my lovely readers/commenters, Kaleia, made a request/suggestion. It was just the push I needed to get the story done~  
> (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I did have to fight it a bit, but I got it to the number of chapters and series of events that I think works best.
> 
> Now just to write the rest of it. Expect those to come after the holidays! Happy Holidays!

Nina stared with wide eyes, disbelieving. 

She nearly dropped it from her hand in her surprise, but managed to keep it from clattering to the floor as her free hand went up to cover her mouth, which had begun to gape open. An assortment of emotions passed through her, all crowding for her focus but only making her emotional in the end. The sense of surprise was quickly pushed aside by panic, then worry, and then the realization came in, along with acceptance, like adults shooing their children out of a room. With the arrival of the last two emotions Nina broke down into tears, smiling.

She was pregnant.

• • •

The following day Nina's dominant emotion was that of excitement. She hadn't told her boyfriend, Martin, yet due to her wanting to surprise him just as the pregnancy test she took surprised her. Granted, she shouldn't have been too surprised when she found that her period became more and more delayed. She figured perhaps it was just enough stress from everyday life that kept it from finally happening. But as the days went along, turning into a week and then two, and even three, getting further from January and further into February she had become concerned. The thought had occurred to her plenty of times, but it wasn't a definite possibility...not until it was proven a fact by that little device. It was just as surprising to realize how much would change from something so small.

She was usually cheerful when she clocked into In Tiers Bakery, but today she was a little bit more so. The happiness of her knowing what was happening within her combined with her long established love for baking, especially cake decorating, made her smile bigger and brighter. All the other employees and even her boss--an older, heavier set woman named Tammy--noticed this. When asked what had her in such a good mood she only replied of how it was a good day and left it at that. 

As much as Nina wanted to remain totally focused on her being pregnant, as well as the surprise she wanted to make for Martin, she still had work to do. And with it being the day before Valentine's Day there certainly was work to be had. For the past few days the bakery had been busier than usual with customers of all kinds seeking out a sweet treat for themselves, their significant other, or coming in together to pick out their personal favorites and share. There were also special orders that needed to be filled out for the day itself, and it was Nina's job to prepare the order of someone by the name of Asgore Dreemurr. 

If she remembered correctly, Asgore was a large, goat-like monster who had come in about a week before asking for a special cake be made for himself and his sweetheart. She wasn't sure if this sweetheart of his was his girlfriend or wife, but that information didn't matter. What did matter was that she made his order as he requested. It was almost funny, however, how a creature of fantasy such as him had so little imagination. 

The little cake he wanted made was one of the most typical Valentine's Day designs. A heart shaped cake with vanilla cake and buttercream frosting between the layers, then covered in even more buttercream in shades of white, red, and pink. The one odd thing about it, however, was that instead of additional hearts or sugar flowers in the shape of roses, he'd asked that the flowers look like buttercups. Nina spent most of her day making the sugar flowers so they would have enough time to set. The other flowers she wanted to make with frosting the day of. 

Of course, it wasn't just Asgore who had made a special request for the bakery, there were plenty of other monsters who wanted something for Valentine's. Having only emerged from the underground a little over a year ago most monsters were still getting used to the way humans celebrated various holidays over the course of the year just as humans were getting used to monsters and the things they did. Monsters were a cheerful lot and seemed willing to celebrate the smallest achievement, pouring their encouragement and support. They were also the most willing of anyone to become friends, and possibly even lovers if the interest was mutual. Tammy admitted plenty of times how, if she didn't have a full staff already, she would hire a monster to help out around the bakery faster than a blink. 

Though monsters were kind to all, not all humans were kind to monsters. The majority of humanity welcomed them, fascinated by their appearance and willing to return the kindness the creatures exuded as easily as one breathed. But, for the rest, they chose to be rude and even hostile. Those unfortunate enough to suffer from such discrimination and racism had a hard time setting up and keeping businesses, living decently (despite monsters being filthy rich due to their gold coin currency and the assortment of jewels and crystals they collected from beneath Mount Ebott), or even staying in one place for long. It was always sad when a monster or their family was driven out. One of the worst parts of it was how even humans who were supportive of monsters suffered as well, usually as badly as the monsters themselves. But, through it all, monsters continued to integrate further into human society and make well for themselves. They were nothing if not hopeful.

• • •

Nina was always the first one home after work, while Martin followed in about an hour to an hour and a half later. Most of that extra time was his usual commute to and from his job, but it paid well and he loved working there so there wasn't much of a fuss from either of them. And tonight it gave her the time she needed to prepare everything for when she'd tell him she was pregnant with his child. She wasn't entirely sure how he'd react to the news, but she hoped it would be for the best. Nina and Martin had been together for just over two years, and living together for about half that time. There had even been a few talks of possibly getting married, but those were few and far between without any real thought of it happening within the near future. Even so, they lived comfortably and happily together.

So, as she waited for him to return to their apartment that they rented, she busied herself with making a special dinner and dessert. She hummed to herself, following the notes to some of her favorite songs as she went about the kitchen and occasionally glancing down at her stomach and smiling as she imagined the tiny child growing within. She wondered if it was going to be a boy girl, what the baby would look like, how much between herself and Martin it would take after in terms of personality and appearance...

Nina had been so caught up in her thoughts and imaginings that she didn't realize Martin had already walked through the door and approached her. She yelped in surprise when she felt his arms slide around her middle and embrace her, her pale gray eyes widening before her expression eased a second later at realizing he was there. She smiled as she let herself lean back into him and felt his lips kiss into her hair, behind her ear, and at her neck.

"Smells great, Nina. But Valentine's isn't until tomorrow."

"I know. I just wanted to make something nice for us," she replied. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. She wasn’t going to tell him the whole truth behind this unexpected special treatment until later, even though her excitement and anticipation made her want to tell him right then. But she managed to keep her composure and finish up making dinner, serving it on their individual plates, and then sit down to eat together and go over how their day went. It had been a routine for them shortly after they moved into their apartment due their already being so familiar with each other from their dating up until that point.

“What has got you so giddy, babe?” Martin asked as the two were finishing up eating their main course. She was going to serve dessert soon--two little individualized cakes she made for each of them--and with it came the time she wanted to finally share the news. And tried as she might she couldn’t keep herself from smiling. At her own happy expression he too found himself smiling, reaching out beside him and giving a gentle squeeze to her thigh.

With a shaky sigh she set her plate to the coffee table in front of them, as they had been dining on the couch, side by side. “I’ve been waiting all day to tell you,” she replied as she shifted where she sat to better face him.

“Tell me what?”

She kept her hands tightly gripped in her lap to keep either herself or Martin from seeing them shaking in her nervousness. “Martin…I’m pregnant.”

His smile lingered on his face, having reflected her own, for a few moments but as the seconds ticked by that smile faded away. His eyes widened and Nina felt her heart begin to hammer within her chest making it hard to breathe, and causing her own happy expression to falter. The smile still lingered, though smaller, while her brows began to furrow in concern.

“Martin?”

“You’re what?”

She tried to make herself smile as big as she did before, but the enthusiasm was quickly fading. In its place was the steadily creeping feeling of worry. “I’m pregnant. We’re having a baby.”

“No.” The word was little more than a whisper.

“What?”

“No. No, no, you can’t be pregnant,” he continued, his expression staying as one of shock as he pulled away from her. Instinctively she reached out for him, but as she kept looking at him and the look on his face she couldn’t find it in herself to touch him. “You can’t be…Nina, you can’t do this to me!”

“I…I don’t understand,” she whimpered. Like when she first found out she was pregnant, disbelief made an appearance in her heart, but this time it brought along sadness. “What do you mean I can’t—“

“I can’t be a father, Nina,” he retorted. “I’m not ready! You can’t just throw this on me!”

“I’m not ready either, Martin,” she countered. “But we have time—months—before the baby comes. We can be ready by then.”

“No. No. No!” Martin rose from where sat and began to pace the length of the room. He heaved a sigh, rubbing his hands down his face, then up again, over his head, and down the back of his neck. They were clear gestures that he was agitated, and it only made Nina’s confusion and sadness worse. She pursed her lips as she rose a moment later and tried to follow after him. She reached out with a single hand, but the instant she touched him he recoiled, and her heart sank.

“Martin, please. I didn’t mean for this to upset you, I just thought—“

“I don’t want it.”

“What?”

“I don’t want the baby,” he repeated, his voice low. “I don’t want to be a father.”

Her sad expression became that of shock. “How can you say that? This is your child!”

“Just because it’s mine doesn’t mean I have to accept it! Nina, get rid of it!”

“Get rid of it?” she said softly, disbelief dripping from her lips. She stood, staring, for a few moments before she could find her voice again. “Get rid of it?! How can you suggest that? How can you be so cruel?”

“Who’s the cruel one here? You’re the one who suddenly tells me that you’re pregnant.”

“We’ve been living together for a year. You had to realize, somewhere, that this could happen.”

“I can’t do this, Nina. I don’t want to.” He pulled away from her, put his shoes back on, and grabbed his coat as he headed towards the door. Her already sunken heart trembled, threatening to come apart as she realized what he was doing.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m leaving.” There was a tone of finality to his words. It made her trembling heart struggle all the more to stay in one piece. Was he really going to do this, just because she was pregnant?

“What? No, Martin—You’re just going to walk away? You’re leaving me?” He said nothing in reply, only continued to put himself together and then walk out the door. Nina followed him to the threshold of the apartment itself, standing in the open door in disbelief, shock, and sadness so great it finally dragged her down beyond her sense of control. Tears quickly filled her eyes and spilled over down her cheeks.

“You…you coward!” she yelled as she watched him continue to walk away through her blurred vision. “You selfish, heartless—“ Her voice failed her, keeping her from continuing to throw the insults and anger she felt against him for his choosing to abandon her. Part of her didn’t want to believe that he would actually stay gone, that he would reappear later, perhaps even in the morning, and admit that had been irrational and would stay at her side to prepare for and raise their child. But Martin didn’t turn around. Nina continued to weep as she slumped against the door frame, her heart finally breaking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand, we're starting off with some [ angst ](https://youtu.be/DwKMzx0nNg4?t=2s)


	2. Gone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone who's read, left a kudos, or a comment to this story after just the first chapter hanging around for a while now. Y'all are awesome!

Sometime in the night Nina managed to fall asleep, despite her tears and heaving sobs. She didn't dream, overcome with sadness that lingered once she rose again and found that Martin was still gone. His side of the bed remained as undisturbed as ever causing another pang of hurt in her heart to realize that, perhaps, he really did mean it when he said he was leaving her. 

Part of her wanted to remain curled up on her side of the bed, buried beneath the covers and allow herself to sink further into her sadness. However, the other part of her knew that she still had things to do—especially that order for Asgore—and that it wouldn’t do her any good lingering in a spot that would only remind her of her newfound loneliness. She rose from her place and sniffled, rubbing her nose and eyes before she managed to crawl out of bed. She had to keep going, she had to endure.

Her routine went slower than usual, the reminder of Martin’s absence hitting her with every other thing she looked at, and the unusual silence that hung in the apartment. She was accustomed to hearing his footsteps and his mumbling to himself as he went over what to expect for that day at work, bit the quiet made her feel uncomfortable. By the time she was ready she went out to their parking space and, with another pang of hurt, found that his car was gone. Usually she would get a ride with him on his commute to work and then take the bus back. How she missed the idea that she would still get her ride to work, she wasn’t sure. She blamed it on her still being in a sense of shock over his walking out on her. Struggling to keep herself from crying while out in public she turned on her heel and went towards the nearest bus stop in hopes that she’d catch one.

She did managed to get her bus to work, but it also meant that she came in late. Her appearance was easily noticed as everyone else in the bakery was already hard at work at keeping the place running or handing their own orders assigned to them. She got a few curious looks from her co-workers, but kept her face as neutral as she could despite the fact that she usually walked in with a smile on her face. Pushing through the awkward feeling looming over her she pulled out the cake meant for Asgore and resumed her work on it.

“Nina, there you are!” said Tammy as she poked into the back of the bakery. “I was starting to think maybe you had bailed today.”

“No, of course not,” she replied, perhaps a little too softly than usual. She didn’t want to speak too loudly, her voice still weak from the crying she had done the night prior and earlier that morning. “I wouldn’t leave this unfinished,” she continued as she went about getting a fresh batch of buttercream mixed for the cake’s additional flowers.

Her shift in mood was much too easy to see through. Tammy’s expression dropped and she remained hovering over her workspace, keeping just enough room for Nina to work without bumping into anything. Though she was a larger sized woman she was nimble in the bakery, able to weave through people and objects, with and without baked goods in her arms, with as much agility as a gymnast.

“Sweetheart, what happened?”

Nina didn’t want to burden her boss, helpful and considerate as she was, with her personal issues. She heaved a sigh, steadied her breathing and hands, and began piping the freshly bagged buttercream onto the cake.

“Martin and I are…having a rough moment, is all. It’ll be fine.”

“Rough, indeed, if it’s got you this upset.” Tammy reached out and rested her hand on the middle of Nina’s back, then gently stroked up and down in a soothing manner. The sensation and emotion behind the gesture wasn’t far from a mother easing the troubled emotions of her child. “What did he do, sweetheart?”

Nina paused in her piping and gave a look asking for Tammy to come closer. The woman did and when she was close enough, since she didn't want others to overhear of her personal troubles, whispered what had happened. She kept it simple, stating how Martin had left her and had yet to return, if he would. When she was done Tammy had a fire in her eyes. 

"That heartless, son of a--" She bit her tongue to keep herself from curing in the workplace. Though the woman usually came close to doing so frequently, she still had a bit of a personal rule to never actually curse. She, herself, was a mother and refused to allow herself to be a bad influence on her kids. Tammy leaned in closer. "I say good riddance to a man like him," she said softly. "I know he was good to you, but to leave you like that...I'm sure there's a man out there who will treat you even better."

“Thank you, Tammy. I appreciate it,” Nina replied, looking up at the woman as she added the occasional leaf or petal with the buttercream. Tammy’s eyes softened, and possibly gained a hint of sadness, when she saw the look of heartbreak in the young woman’s own eyes.

Keeping mostly to herself Nina finished Asgore’s special order cake with time to spare, so she had it boxed up and sitting in one of the large fridges to ensure that the frosting and buttercream remained set in place, and thus presentable for when the monster would come to collect it. During that time between her being done and his arrival she helped out in keeping cookie and pastry batters flowing, keeping a constant fresh stock of the treats as necessary. The work, thankfully, kept her mind off of Martin and thus brought her spirits up a little. However, the initial sting still lingered in her heart, keeping her smiles from being fully genuine and her voice softer than usual.

It was hard to ignore the moment when Asgore finally walked through the doors, his mumbling apologies as he maneuvered himself through the door due to his great height and broad size. His low, rumbling voice carried easily through the bakery. The gentle giant was met with smiles and friendly voices, but through it he took notice of a dim light flickering beyond the front of the store. It was a sad sight in comparison to the other glimpses he made into the center of the other humans there. So, after receiving his package--feeling the same sad aura around it mixing with the older feelings of happiness and joy--and taking a look at the name assigned to make it he asked that she brought to him. Sure enough, the same sad soul emerged from the back.

A woman with grey eyes and strawberry blonde hair in a pixie cut. It saddened Asgore to see that her soul was a shade closer to that her eyes rather than the richer color he assumed it was meant to be. Holding the cake carefully in his paws he offered her a smile.

“I want to thank you for your efforts in making this,” he said. “You show a lot of care and concern in the details that I see. I believe you deserve the same. Thank you again.”

Having kept a neutral face for the majority of the time her expression then shifted to that of befuddlement as he went back out the door. “That was weird,” she murmured. As strange as it was to feel as if the monster had an understanding, to some degree, of what she was going through it also somehow made her feel better to hear the words he said. A part of her clung desperately to the belief that she did, indeed, deserve care and concern over her well-being. Martin certainly showed none.

• • •

He showed less still when she came home.

Nina wandered around the apartment, mouth agape, her eyes brimming with tears again when she found that the majority of his things were gone. It was bad enough when she returned and found his car still missing (though a piece of her tried to think it was because he was still at work or coming back), but worse still to see that little to no trace of him was left within the walls of their place. The memories stung, like her eyes, as she openly cried passing her fingertips over various places in their apartment where his things used to be.

Breaking down completely for a second time Nina collapsed against the doorframe leading into their bedroom. Her bedroom now. Martin wasn’t coming back, all because she was pregnant with his child; a child he didn’t want, a shift in his life he wouldn’t accept. She curled into herself, wrapping her arms across her stomach as if to protect the baby from the pain she was feeling. Heaving sobs wracked her body as she wept. What little hope she had left quickly wilted and died, her heart breaking for a second time. 

Desperate for someone, anyone other than her own self for comfort, Nina managed to collect enough of herself to call a friend of many years named Leah. 

“Hey Nina, what’s--Nina?”

“Please,” Nina choked, “can you come over?”

Nina remained crying, unaware that the other end of the line had gone dead; unaware of the door to her apartment opening; unaware of her being led over to the couch where the two sat and Leah quietly hugged her friend. She remained unaware even as her sobs drained her of whatever energy she had left and she fell asleep with her eyes still wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It got worse, sorry. >u>;; But I swear it gets better!
> 
> Check out my [ TUMBLR ](http://jarofmayonnaise.tumblr.com/) to see what nonsense I like and reblog! Or, feel free to leave me a message~
> 
> 'till next time~


	3. Special Guests

After retelling her tale to her friend Leah decided to spend the next few nights there in the apartment so Nina wouldn’t have to feel so alone as she began to mend. Nina was immensely grateful for the additional sign of movement and life within the place, though there were still moments where she’d shed a few extra tears as particular memories within the apartment stung more than others. And although Leah helped to get her to work a few times Nina insisted that she not remain a bother and took the bus more frequently. 

Taking the bus gave her a little extra time at the bakery before her actual shift, but the time spent working continued to help keep her mind off of things so she welcomed it. Tammy remained quietly supportive as she made sure that Nina stayed occupied with little time to let her mind wander. She helped mix cake batters, buttercreams, assemble sugar flowers, and kept the front of the store stocked with its usual assortment of treats and pastries. It was during one of these moments, when she was putting in fresh batches of them into the display case that the door to the bakery opened and a figure that Nina thought she recognized strode in. 

At first she thought she saw the large figure of Asgore, but although the monster was similar to both size and stature, it clearly was not him. She too was goat-like in appearance, with the same pristine white fur, but she wore a purple dress with a sweater on top and her focus was downward as she smiled fondly to a small child at her side. The child had shaggy brown hair, equally earthy colored eyes, and an excited smile. Then again, what child wasn’t excited to be inside a bakery? It didn’t take Nina long to realize that the customers before her were the former queen of monsters as well as the child ambassador for monsters themselves--Frisk. 

When monsters first emerged from the underground they were led by the very child standing in the bakery. Frisk strongly advocated for monsters, assuring law enforcement and media reporters that, despite their appearances, they were incredibly friendly and simply happy to be free. Despite the initial hesitation, Frisk’s word was proven true the longer monsters remained, helping to bring them into human society that much quicker. The one beside the child, Toriel, remained as close now as she did back when the news first broke out. Both had proclaimed each other as family--Toriel as Frisk’s mother, and Frisk as her child--and it was easy to see the gentle affection of parent and child between the two of them. 

To say that their appearance was a surprise was a gross understatement. Nevertheless, Nina did her best to smile and keep herself from stumbling over her words. 

“Welcome to In Tiers Bakery. What can I get for you?”

“A good question,” the monster replied. Her voice was smooth and soothing, though there was a hint of a giggle showing her amusement. “I thought I knew what I wanted, but now that I see all these lovely options in front of me, I’m not so sure anymore.”

“Mom! Mom!” Frisk called out with the same level of excitement as when he first walked in. “They have cookies. We should get some for everyone.”

“Oh,” Toriel said calmly. She bent down quite a bit to diminish her great height and look closer into the case displaying the various sweets available. Indeed, one whole shelf at the top of the case was dedicated to cookies alone, and the selection was a decent one. Sugar cookies, chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, white macadamia nut, and others. “Now there’s an idea.”

“Take your time,” Nina said.

As Toriel remained practically kneeling on the floor to better look at the selection Frisk threw his arms around her neck, holding her in an embrace as well as getting a good look himself at the cookies available. However, the boy’s warm, dark colored eyes roamed from those and onto the other pastries on display. His eyes seemed to linger on the lowest section of the case, looking back and forth at the slices of cakes for purchase, before he looked back up and stared right at Nina.

“It was you guys that made the cake mom got, right?” He looked back to Toriel. “The one with all the flowers? The ones that looked like dad’s buttercups.”

Buttercups on a cake? Nina did recall spending a lot of time prior to Valentine’s Day making sugar flowers in that shape. And with the child’s mention of dad she couldn’t help but begin to piece together what was happening. If Frisk called Toriel ‘mom,’ then the only other person she assumed who would be called dad would have to be Asgore. With that realization it suddenly all made sense. With Toriel as his former queen it seemed that the king of monsters had simply wanted to dote on her for that special day. Though tensions were high between the two of them when monsters first emerged, over the course of the year since then they had grown closer. News reports and interviews favored Frisk as the reason why.

“Yes, my dear, Asgore got the cake from here.” 

So, Nina was right in her thought process. However, a sense of nervousness, not from being in the presence of a queen, rose up within her. She was the one who had worked on that cake, and though it brought some pride to her in knowing that the king and queen of monsters enjoyed what she made, there was that lingering worry that there might be some complaint somewhere about it. The wound in her heart had been too recent when she finished it, and she worried it might have affected the quality of her work. A moment later she was reminded of Asgore’s words to her when he arrived to pick it up...

“I believe I’m ready,” Toriel said, bringing Nina out of her thoughts. With Frisk held in her arms he helped to point out which cookies were to be picked out while she made mention of how many. By the time the boxes were filled with the selections a decent dent had been made in the amount of cookies on display. Plenty more would still be baked and replaced before the end of the day.

Toriel was already spoiling Frisk by letting him have the first choice of which two cookies he wanted. She did warn him, however, in a soft voice that he would have to wait until after the others had their picks if he wanted any more. Nina watched with a small smile on her face when Toriel pressed her snout to the child’s face and did her best to press a kiss to the side of his face. She saw Frisk smile through his munching. The whole scene before her made her own sense of motherly affection rise as one hand rose to rest light and low on her belly. 

“Thank you very much for your help.” Still holding the child in one arm her large paw held the bag containing the numerous boxes filled with cookies in the other. 

But the former queen didn’t turn around and leave with her child quiet yet. Rather, her grateful smiled softened as she took a moment to gaze steadily at Nina. The way Toriel looked at her made the woman believe that she wasn’t looking for something on her face, but something deeper instead. Before the feeling could start to be uncomfortable Toriel’s smile returned and her expression turned into a look similar to a mother pleased with her child. 

“Stay strong. Don’t let the light in you go out.”

Nina blinked, befuddlement passing over her features. But before she could ask the monster what she meant by that Toriel had already turned around and walked out with Frisk still held in her arms. She remained standing there in silence trying to make sense of those parting words, but her thoughts were interrupted when a few more customers trickled in. She set that thought aside for the time being, intent to talk about it with Leah later.

∙ ∙ ∙

“Are monsters sensitive to moods?” Nina asked after she and Leah settled themselves down on the couch to eat dinner. Nina had managed to scrape something together of the leftovers lingering in her fridge.

“Hm? Oh! It’s more than just moods, really,” Leah replied. “They’re sensitive to souls.”

“But…aren’t souls something private—intimate?”

Some months after monsters first emerged from the Underground the news was shared of how all living things bear souls to them. Monsters were made mostly of the magic produced by their souls, while humans were sturdier in their physical make-up which housed their individual soul. However, with that information about souls was also the warning to humans how certain acts with souls, whether human or monster, was considered something saved only for the privacy of families or loved ones and not to be openly revealed lest it be considered improper. 

“Fully revealing a soul is,” Leah clarified. “Monsters can glimpse into souls though.”

“Wouldn’t that still be private?”

“They don’t see the entire soul when they do that,” Leah continued. “If I remember correctly, it’s more a glimpse into the color or aura of it. They get a clearer view of what the person is feeling and why.”

“And how do you know this?” Nina asked with a raised brow in question.

“I talk to a lot more monsters than you do, Nina. There’s a few in the workplace, so I chat with them often.” There was a pause before Leah gave her friend her own questioning look. “Why do you ask?”

“A couple of monsters came into the shop and…” Nina rubbed her fingertips into her chest above her heart, as if to try and soothe some of the ache that refused to go away there. “What they said to me just had me wondering, that’s all.”

“Monsters are wonderful people,” Leah said with a soft, genuine smile. She set her plate down and leaned over to wrap her arm behind Nina and have the two give each other a sideways hug. “Whatever they said to you, it’s because you needed it. Whatever they do for you, it’s because they wanted to. Other than you, some of my best friends are monsters. It might do you some good to make a few monster friends of your own.”

Nina tilted her head down to rest her forehead against Leah’s shoulder, the two of them still leaning into each other. “I’ll remember that. Thank you, Leah.”


	4. Two Brides

With Leah’s continued stay at Nina’s apartment, she began to insist that she bring her friend to work, even though Nina was willing to endure the earlier mornings and occasional waits at the bus stops. But, Leah remained patient in Nina’s attempts to talk her way out of the offer, and eventually won. Even so, the daily support from Leah helped the woman to heal a little more from her abandonment. Tammy’s always being the comforting mother figure to her and anyone else in the bakery helped as well, though Nina still tended to keep to herself. She didn’t feel like her old self enough yet to interact with everyone as she used to. 

The bakery was going on as usual, the front busy with customers wanting a treat in the moment or planning ahead and ordering something for a birthday or some other event. The back was a soft din of noise as the other bakers went about mixing, preparing, and decorating. But, even with all the movement and sounds caused from it there was no ignoring the boisterous voice that suddenly broke the routine as two figures entered.

“Yo! We want a cake for our wedding that’s coming up soon!”

Nina and the other people in the back of the bakery paused in their current task and gave each other a puzzled look. None of them were used to hearing someone quite so loud and energetic for their special day. 

“P-please don’t go b-breaking d-down the door…” another, far softer, voice said. 

“Be right with you,” Tammy called out, making her way past the front counter of the bakery and towards the visitors. 

Nina, along with a few others, pulled away from their work in their curiosity and peeked into the front of the store to see who or what had entered. Smiles and increased interest was easily seen or felt from every baker when they saw how it was a monster couple. There was a tall fish-like woman with flaming red hair and defined muscles in her toned body. The other monster beside the first was far shorter in her own height, and looked quite a bit like some sort of dinosaur with her entire body covered in leathery hide or scales, all in a butter yellow color. In Nina’s opinion, the little yellow monster was adorable. 

“Welcome to In Tiers Bakery. So, you two are wanting a wedding cake?” Tammy asked, greeting the monsters with a pleasant smile and handshake to each one. 

“Yeah, something awesome!” the tall fish monster said, giving a grin and revealing her sharp, shark-like teeth.

“W-we saw that certain b-bakeries can make giant c-cakes,” the reptilian monster added, wringing her little hands together, though there was a knowing gleam in her eyes. She adjusted her glasses, appearing to gather her courage and looked Tammy in the eye. “So, I found out that your particular bakery does just that, and there’s been a lot of good commentary about this place. Some friends of ours have been by and liked both their treatment and the quality of your cakes here.”

The fish monster gave a loud, single laugh, still grinning. “Al’s been working hard getting things planned. Don’t disappoint!”

“Alright, follow me and we’ll get something awesome figured out for you,” Tammy continued, ushering the monsters into a secluded corner of the bakery set aside for consultations about cakes. The most frequent type of cake discussed in that little corner were wedding cakes, so it was procedure to see the three disappear into there. 

With the three having gone to continue their discussion Nina and the others returned to their tasks, but now all chatting about what kind of cake two monsters like them would want. Ideas and possibilities were tossed back and forth, some even pausing in their work again to scribble what they imagined for the couple on scrap paper laying around from older cake designs that were never used, or later refined on another sheet. When Tammy returned to the back of the bakery she looked pleased. Almost immediately she was set upon with questions concerning the couple and what their story was. 

“Such poor dears,” Tammy started. “They’ve been looking for a place that would make them a cake for weeks.”

“What? Would no one else make one for them?”

“That, or would overprice everything just because they’re monsters.” The woman’s words were met with indignant comments about terrible people or corrupt business sense. Tammy wasn’t one to make judgments based on appearance, especially since that couldn’t be done with monsters. She made sure that anyone working in her bakery understood that business was business, whether human or monster. 

The questions concerning the cake itself were quickly thrown out into the open and nearly the entire bakery listened in for the details. Undyne, the fish monster, wanted something large to match her equally sized personality, so the cake would be nearly four feet tall! Though the entirety of the cake would look traditional in the white buttercream and icing all along the outside, it would be the inside that would provide the surprise and the customizations desired by the two brides. Each tier in the cake would have a marbled effect in the same colors as the monsters themselves—butter yellow and teal blue—with various fruit flavored fillings between each layer. Nina quite liked the mental image she made from that. The bakery was also informed that the wedding for Undyne and Alphys was a little less than two months away, so they had time to prepare and schedule when to make the giant cake so it would be ready right when it was needed.

∙ ∙ ∙

At first she thought she was just making up reasons, but shortly after Toriel’s appearance at the bakery, as well as the monster couple—Alphys and Undyne—Nina noticed how bakery became more and more busy with monster customers. And whenever they were asked how they came to know the place they would reply with how someone they knew, who knew another monster, who had some sort of connection to the child ambassador, made mention of the place. Advertisement by word of mouth seemed to be the most effective with monsters.

But despite how much more active the bakery got nobody minded. In fact, whenever a monster wandered into the shop Tammy and the rest of the staff would happily greet them. The happiness around the bakery helped Nina to temporarily forget the pain she was still recovering from, even as it lingered in the back of her memory and depths of her heart.

The pain always came back, however, each time she walked through the door to her apartment. It still hurt to look around and see half the things she was used to noticing simply being gone. The small influences that Martin had made on their place not being there anymore was both odd and sad. Thankfully, when Leah returned from her own work, providing the movement and noise that Nina needed, it was a little easier to set those thoughts aside and believe that she could get over this sooner. 

“You’re doing it again,” Leah said gently.

“Wha—doing what?”

“You’re making a face. What’s on your mind?”

“I just…” Nina started, looking back at Leah for a moment before dropping her eyes. “Part of me wonders if I was a bother to him. And if I’m a bother to you now. You know you don’t have to keep staying with me, but—“

“Don’t talk like that Nina,” Leah said, her expression and tone of voice suddenly stern. She approached her friend and took hold of her hands. “If any of this was a bother to me I would have told you. So, you’re not.” The two stood facing each other before Nina finally nodded silently. Leah stepped forward and hugged her. “I’m here for you for as long as you need me. I’ll help you through this.”

Nina buried her head into her friend’s shoulder, returning the hug as she wrapped her own arms around Leah’s waist. “Thank you so much.”

“You deserve to be happy, remember that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter's a little short, but it does play out in the longer run of the story's plot. Thanks for being awesome!


	5. Revealed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey y'all, sorry for the delay. I've been distracted with pretty much everything else except my stories. ;3; I will get back into these and have updates soon!

The days went by and Nina occasionally had slower mornings than others, mostly due to her gradual increase of morning sickness. She was lucky that she had not yet actually vomited anything yet, but the nausea lingered for hours, diminishing her desire to eat or even take in certain scents around her. Nina was grateful that the smells in the bakery didn’t bother her, even with the nausea. So, despite the trouble with that she could still keep going forward in her work and in her life. 

Tammy provided much welcomed advice in how to handle the morning sickness, while Nina and Leah did their own research as well to make sure that Nina had as much information as possible at her disposal just in case something came up. And for the first time since Martin’s leaving her, she was starting to feel like things were going to be okay.

“It’s good to have you back, Nina,” Tammy said with a smile.

“Hm?” Nina had been busy setting recently cooled cookies onto their serving tray to be brought to the front of the store. “What do you mean?”

“You’re getting more like your old self again. I’m glad to see you getting better.”

“Oh, thank you.” She smiled to herself returning to her task. “I am getting better. I don’t feel like I’m doing this alone now.”

“Sweetheart, you never would have had to deal with it alone,” Tammy replied as she lightly rested her hand on Nina’s shoulder. “But you do seem particularly happy today.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know why today of all days I feel like this. I just feel like something’s coming, and I can’t help but be happy.”

“Well, whatever it is, it better get here soon and then stick around. Speaking of soon, once you get those set could you handle the front for a little bit? I’ve got another consult in a few minutes.”

“Sure thing Tammy.”

∙ ∙ ∙

People—both human and monster—came in and out of the bakery and all the while Nina still felt something within her steadily rising. It was peace and comfort, a sense of stability. More and more often, as the feeling grew stronger, she rubbed her fingertips into the center of her chest. She was pulled partially out of her wondering, however, when a couple of young women exited the shop and were replaced with a curious trio. One of them she recognized as the small ambassador to monsters, but she didn’t know the other two monsters that accompanied the boy. Both were skeletal in appearance, though one was tall and smiling brightly while the other was far shorter and had a casual grin across his face.

“Welcome back,” Nina said, addressing Frisk. “Good to see you again.”

“I’d be here every day, if I could. But mom says no,” Frisk replied.

She chuckled, remembering the last time Frisk and Toriel came by the bakery. The motherly affection from Toriel, and Frisk’s returned love for his adoptive mother, made Nina look forward again to feeling the same thing for her own child in the months to come. And though her focus was mostly on the child she still noticed the frequent glances the shorter skeleton monster made in her direction. Was he glimpsing into her as the former king and queen had? She wondered what exactly monsters saw of her when they did that. 

“Who are your friends?”

“I am the Great Papyrus, human!” the tall skeleton exclaimed, puffing out his chest and looking quite proud of himself. “Friend Frisk and Miss Toriel spoke well of this bakery! So, we have come to see for ourselves!”

“Glad you could come.” She turned her attention to the shorter monster and felt an odd combination of swelling and pulling from with her as their gazes met. “And you are?”

He kept those softly glowing lights in his sockets on her for another moment before he looked away. “Name’s Sans.” His voice was surprisingly low. 

“A pleasure to meet you both.” Nina shuffled to the side so that she stood behind the case showing off the cookies, slices of cake, and other treats readily available. “So, what can I get for you and your friends, Frisk?”

The trio huddled around the opposite side of the case as they looked over everything. Frisk went off into his opinion about how good each of the cookies he tried before were. From the sounds of it he managed to either get permission to eat a number of them, or was sneaky enough to get away with it without Toriel’s notice. Papyrus praised how expertly made each individual item appeared. And though Sans remained close to the other two, she noticed how he would continually glance over at her until her eyes fell on him again and he would look away once more. 

Why was he looking at her like that? Had he seen something in her soul from his previous glances? And, admittedly, every time their eyes met from their hesitant glances Nina felt both happiness and peace. Not sure why she was feeling that way while he was around she pushed past the feeling and kept her focus on three as a group.

With Frisk’s help Papyrus gleefully informed her which cookies they would take with them and how much. The final number was far less than last time the child ambassador visited, but it was still enough to fill a smaller sized box that the shop offered for cupcakes or numerous orders. Nina couldn’t help but smile at the child’s growing enthusiasm as she handed the box over the counter, to the extended hand of Sans. 

Their eyes met again and she felt something within her chest, like something was pulling at it. As the exchange happened their fingers brushed together, and then the box was dropped. 

Nina snapped her hand back and gasped as the pull nearly made her lurch forward, and in that same moment a little, purple glowing heart emerged from her. Sans also pulled his hand away and stumbled back with a gasp of his own as an inverted heart appeared front of him. Not only that, it glowed a pure white color, though there were faint swirls of cyan and yellow within. 

She pressed her hands to the center of her chest where the little heart suddenly appeared from, staring in wonder at the sight of it. Despite feeling completely exposed she also felt a complete oneness with it. Was this her soul? Why was it purple? Somehow she managed to get eyes away from it and look towards the inverted heart hovering a small distance away. The glow coming from both shapes was in perfect tandem and it seemed as though they were trying to draw even closer. 

“Nyeh!” Papyrus cried, slapping his hands over Frisk’s eyes to cover them from the situation in front of them. A second later he covered his own eyes as an orange colored glow appeared across his face. 

Sans, on the other hand, was trying in vain to keep his face from glowing any brighter though he was an already noticeable shade of cyan. The little lights in his eyes had also shrunk to tight pinpricks. His hand, partially hidden in the length of his jacket sleeve rose up and he pointed towards the purple heart in front of Nina.

“Oh, jeez. I’ll just, uh, put that back,” he said quickly, his words practically running together. 

The gesture made it glide back and retreat into Nina’s being before he did the same with the little heart in front of himself. Confused, curious, and still awestruck Nina was about to ask what had happened but Sans wouldn’t meet her eyes as he threw his hood up in an attempt to hide his face (though with his face still glowing it didn’t do much good). She blinked and he was gone. 

“I do apologize for Sans!” Papyrus said after he drew his hand away and saw that the hearts were no longer out in the open. Frisk, honestly, didn’t look too bothered and nabbed the box of cookies that had been temporarily forgotten. “We weren’t quite expecting that to happen!” Apparently not, since Papyrus was still glowing a soft orange. 

“What was—“

“But now I must go look for my brother! Thank you for the cookies! Farewell!” Without giving Nina the opportunity to say anything more Papyrus snatched Frisk, who was already eating at a cookie, and left in a hurry. 

Nina remained staring out the door as she tried to sort through the emotions still swirling within her, as well as the thoughts that moved about in the same fashion as her feelings. Her hands remained pressing at the center of her chest as if trying to get a feeling of her soul again. That had been her soul, hadn’t it? What had exactly happened?

One of her coworkers poked their head out, having witnessed only Papyrus grabbing Frisk and leaving. 

“What just happened?” they asked, voicing the question in Nina’s own head. 

“I’m not really sure,” she replied. “I wish I knew…”

∙ ∙ ∙

Sans hadn’t teleported far, just a little down the street from the bakery so it was still within sight but not so close that he could be easily seen from within the place. He had yet to get his magic under control after his soul was suddenly drawn from him and exposed to hers. He had felt, mixed with her wonder and confusion, lingering sadness and loneliness. Though it hadn’t been long enough for him to pinpoint the reason why he could understand, in his own way.

That slightly subdued purple color lingered in his mind’s eye, along with those grey eyes of hers. Even when he first looked at her he could admit to himself that he found her pretty. A shy laugh managed to rise and escape his mouth and his casual smile had since shifted into genuine happiness. 

He’d found his soulmate.


	6. Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for their patience with this story. I've been keeping my focus, for the most part, on King's Children, but I've hit a bit of a block so now I need to figure out how to work through/around it. In the meantime, I'll be putting some more focus on this story. I also am throwing down notes and ideas for a few other stories. 
> 
> Curse this fandom for giving me so much inspiration! //shakefist//

Sans didn’t have much time to try and recollect himself since Papyrus was quite good at tracking him down. Frisk was now perched on Papyrus’s shoulders, holding their treats under his arm while taking another bite of a cookie he had already gotten into. The taller of the two, ever energetic, gave great gestures with his arms and hands while his expressions clearly told of not only his fluster but also enthusiasm. 

“Brother, what you doing?! You must go back and talk to her!”

“Pap, I don’t know if that’s a good idea. It was sudden. She probably—“

“She probably deserves an explanation!” Papyrus said, unwilling to have his brother talk himself out of this. Both brothers, as well as any monster, knew the importance of such a discovery. A moment later his expression softened, as did his tone. “Sans, she’s your soulmate. Even if it’s strange for her, she’ll understand. I believe she will.”

“Maybe it’ll be better if—“

“No buts, Sans!” Papyrus cried out. 

Without warning he grabbed his brother, hoisted him up and tucked him under his arm. Sans could only try to make his hood lower further onto his face as Papyrus strode straight back to the bakery. After having his soul exposed to hers, even for that moment, he could already feel the pull between them strengthening as they approached, yearning to draw close again.

It was still a surprise, the very idea that he had a soulmate. When he was much younger he, like all other monsters, held into the idea and the hope that out there somewhere was someone whose soul would resonate with his. But, back then he still had time to worry about it so he learned about soulmates and then went about having as typical a youth any other monster could underground. As he grew older he anticipated the appearance of his soulmate to happen sometime soon, but as time went by he remained without one while everyone else around him were finding their other half. Disappointment became normal for him then, but by that time Papyrus was needing Sans to keep a closer eye on him so he had pushed it all down to focus on taking care of his brother. And by the time monsters were freed from the mountain Sans had nearly forgotten the possibility of a soulmate at all.

But now it made sense. He could never find his soulmate, because his soulmate was human. That, too, was a surprise—that humans and monsters could have that kind of bond between them.

Sans was pulled out of his thoughts when he watched Papyrus march towards the door to the bakery they had just rushed out of, and made a strangled sound in his throat while continuing to attempt to hide his face further under his hood. The joyful sound of the door opening was accented by the bell that hung above it, and immediately he could feel his soul wanting to leap out of himself again. He kept one hand pulling at his hood while the other clutched at his shirt beneath his jacket as if to try and hold his soul back. 

“I found him!” his brother exclaimed proudly, setting Sans gently to his feet. A second later the younger brother dashed out the bakery again. “You’re not allowed to leave until you talk to her, Sans!”

There were a few moments of awkward silence and eventually he raised his head slightly to try and peek past the rim of his hood. He found her looking at him with her head cocked ever so slightly to the side in curiosity, while her hand was pressed to the center of her chest. He clutched at his shirt tighter, desperately hoping that the embarrassment of their souls exposing themselves again wouldn’t happen again. 

“Hello again,” she said softly. 

“I, uh...I’ve only been here once, but I already like this place with all my _heart and soul_.” Stars, why did he say that? 

She blinked, caught by surprise by his words before they finally hit her. “Oh!” she squeaked in realization as she began to giggle in amusement. 

Sans couldn’t help but feel his own smile grow a little more at the sound of her laughter. He even dared to peek at her from under his hood. For a moment she actually looked happy with her eyes slightly squinted, her brows raised, and the occasional appearance of her mouth hidden behind her hand. He wanted to glimpse into her soul, see if the color of it had brightened with her expression, but also worried that once he saw it his own soul would throw itself back into the open again. 

“So, I, uh…”

“So, what…”

They spoke up at the same time, and as soon as they realized that, they just as quickly silenced themselves. They shared awkward and amused glances, tried to speak again only to find that they found their voices at the same time. After the second attempt they remained silent, waiting for one or the other to break it. Sans tugged at the edge of his hood, the lights in his eyes glancing up and down between the floor and Nina’s face. Nina, on the other hand, chewed on her lip her hand remained hovering over her chest. 

“L-look, uh…” Sans finally said, willing himself to try and tell her what had happened. 

But he was already too late. The door to the bakery swung open and more customers came in. 

Sans flinched, tugging his hood further down on his face, and stepped aside when the additional customers pushed towards the counter and display case of treats. On the other side, Nina wanted to reach out to him, to keep him from possibly drawing away although she still didn’t understand why. A mild sense of panic rose within her, and was surprised that she felt that way all of the sudden. That feeling remained as she watched Sans, and alleviated only somewhat when she watched him step back towards the door but make no further motion to exit the bakery. 

It was the strangest thing to have a lingering sense of anxiety hang over her as she worked. Though she did her best to maintain eye contact and enthusiasm with the customers, whittling down the number of them as the minutes passed, she kept glancing over at the monster. Their eyes would meet every other time and she couldn’t help but give him little smiles, which resulted in him giving her shy ones in return. 

It wasn’t until the final customer left, returning the bakery to relative silence that the two made lingering eye contact with each other again. Sans shuffled forward, dropping his hood back behind him and lightly running his fingers over his skull, creating an odd scraping sound if he put enough pressure into the gesture.

“This, uh,” he started, glancing back down at his shoes, “this probably isn’t the best time to tell you what happened.” Nina was about to object, but as she had opened her mouth he kept talking. “How long will you be working?”

Nina blinked in surprise at his question. She hadn’t expected that. Even so, she looked to the side at the old-fashioned styled clock that hung from the wall, ticking away silently. “For about another hour and a half,” she said. “Why?”

“Would you mind if I walked you home? I’ll explain what happened then.”

It felt like her heart did a somersault within her, but it somehow felt deeper within. Had it been her soul to react that way? Just what was her connection to him? As odd as it all was, none of it felt wrong. Not to mention, Leah and Tammy would likely feel better knowing that she hadn’t left the bakery alone, especially in her condition. 

“Sure,” she replied. She watched how Sans’s expression eased considerably at her answer as he rubbed at his skull again, the sound reminding Nina of porcelain. 

“Okay. Cool. I’ll see you then.”

“Bye Sans.”

She would never know how his soul lurched within him at the sound of her saying his name. Sans walked out and away from the bakery at a faster pace than usual, tugging one side of his jacket over himself as if to keep his soul from slipping through. The entire time he was around her he fought against the desire to have their souls immediately bond to one another. For monsters that wouldn’t be so strange, but she was a human. How was he going to approach this?

“Sans, I see you returned!” Papyrus exclaimed excitedly, holding Frisk in his lap. The kid appeared to have helped himself to another cookie or two. There were more empty spaces in the bakery’s box than there had been before Sans left. Either his brother didn’t notice, or was happy to allow his share.

“Yeah, so…”

The tone in his voice was enough for Papyrus’s expression to shift. His perpetual grin strained, and there came a faint glow of orange from his sockets as he stared. Sans, by habit, kept his own focus away from Papyrus and stuffed his hands into his pockets. 

“Sans,” Papyrus started, his tone similar to a parent approaching a guilty child, “did you not tell her?”

The elder brother heaved a sigh. “No,” he said eventually. 

Papyrus’s expression shifted again. There was no glare or disapproval, instead he looked more worried as he suddenly hugged Frisk close like he was seeking comfort in a stuffed toy. He likely forgot for a moment that the child was there, caught up in helping his brother. 

“Saaaaans!”

“But,” Sans added, cutting off his brother from continuing. “I’m going to talk to her after she gets off work. I didn’t think trying to explain that I’m her soulmate then would have been the best time.”

Papyrus’s grip on Frisk relaxed, and the boy wheezed out a dramatic breath. Nevertheless, the skeletons’ focus remained on each other, so the boy went in for another cookie in their distraction. The taller of the two skeleton monsters looked much more relieved now than a second ago, his smile returning to his face.

“Good! I expect you to be the perfect gentleman, brother!” There was barely a moment’s pause before Papyrus clapped his hands to his face. “Gasp! Brother! I should lend you my dating manual!”

“Ah, thanks Paps, but I think just trying to explain our souls will be more than enough for now. Trying all those tricks might be too much for her to start with, right?”

He looked thoughtful at this, holding his chin between his fingers. “Perhaps you’re right! But after that, you mustn’t delay! As soulmates you two deserve to be happy with each other! I want _you_ to be happy, Sans!”

Sans’s smile stretched a little wider and he once again rubbed at his skull. “Aw, thanks Paps. You’re the best.”

“Of course! I am the Great Papyrus after all!”

“Speaking of great, we should get these great cookies to everyone else. We’ll be pretty _crummy_ friends if we let Frisk eat them all,” Sans said with a quiet chuckle as he watched the child in question take a bite out of the current cookie in his hand.

“Nyeh! Sans!”

∙ ∙ ∙

“Alright, Tammy, I’m heading out!” Nina called as she collected her things, preparing to walk out the door and call it a day.

“Stay safe, sweetheart. And I’ll see you tomorrow,” the woman replied with a pleased smile on her face. She was feeling better after seeing Nina’s sudden perk in her mood, her smile more genuine, and even getting a little more energy to her. 

Nina got off earlier today than she did some other days, but the bakery grew quieter regardless as the early hours of the evening went on. The sunlight was a warm, rich orange color and the windows had begun to fog over as the temperatures dropped again. She shrugged on her coat and as she was buttoning it closed, making sure to keep the warmth she already had in her contained, she heard a faint tapping at the front of the store. She took a peek and there stood Sans just outside.

Despite herself Nina felt a smile grow and she saw his own smile widen, though he looked a tad bashful at the same time. When she stepped out of the bakery she flinched into her coat collar, the chill a startling difference from the pleasant warmth from within the shop. A second later she got over it and looked down at the monster (since the top of his head was about the same height as her nose). 

“So,” they wound up saying simultaneously. As soon as they caught themselves trying to speak up at the same time again they both broke into amused, yet awkward, chuckles. 

“Y-you first,” Nina said. “You said you were going to explain what happened?”

“Yeah,” Sans replied, watching her expectantly before she turned and began to walk in the direction towards her apartment. She couldn’t call it her home anymore, not after what happened in there, and what was left. He quickly fell into a comfortable pace with her own, and as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye she saw how he kept his own gaze down at his shoes.

“First, let me apologize,” he said. “None of us were expecting something like that to happen. Fully exposing a soul is usually kept private for various reasons.”

“So that was my soul,” she murmured, recalling the purple color of that little heart.

“Yeah. You saw my soul too.”

His mentioning it helped her to recall the moment a little better. Alongside that glow from her own soul was the white light of his own little heart. It was odd how it was inverted, though. Even so, the corners of her mouth curved upwards as she also remembered the whimsical swirls of cyan and yellow that appeared to move within. An unexpected memory, along with the colors and shapes of the souls, was that of Sans’s glowing blush as he hid his face under his hood. A part of her thought that oddly endearing.

“What happened with our souls was that they were drawn to each other, and started to resonate,” Sans said quickly, his tone telling how awkward this conversation was for him. 

“Drawn to each other?” It had felt like they tried to come closer when they were exposed earlier. “Why? We just met.”

“Oh boy…there really isn’t any way to say this, other than how it is.” There was a momentary pause, filled with the sounds of their walking along the pavement, the occasional crunch of left over snow, and cars as they went by. 

“We’re soulmates.”

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [ TUMBLR ](http://jarofmayonnaise.tumblr.com/) to see what nonsense I like and reblog! Or, feel free to leave me a message~
> 
> 'till next time~


End file.
